Efficient Near Infrared Light Triggered Nitric Oxide Release Nanocomposites for Sensitizing Mild Photothermal Therapy.

Mild photothermal therapy (PTT), as a new anticancer therapeutic strategy, faces big challenges of limited therapeutic accuracy and side-effects due to uneven heat distribution. Here, near infrared triggered nitric oxide (NO) release nanocomposites based on bismuth sulfide (BiS) nanoparticles and bis--nitroso compounds (BNN) are constructed for NO-enhanced mild photothermal therapy. Upon 808 nm irradiation, the high photothermal conversion efficiency and on-demand NO release are realized simultaneously. Due to the unique properties of NO, enhanced antitumor efficacy of mild PTT based on BNN-BiS nanocomposites is achieved in vitro and in vivo. Mechanism studies reveal that the exogenous NO from BNN-BiS could not only impair the autophagic self-repairing ability of tumor cells in situ, but also diffuse to the surrounding cells to enhance the therapeutic effect. This work points out a strategy to overcome the difficulties in mild PTT, and has potentials for further exploitation of NO-sensitized synergistic cancer therapy.